Transcript CSE 114 – Computer Science I Lecture 1: Introduction

CSE 380 – Computer Game Programming
Game & Level Design
StarCraft, by Blizzard Entertainment
Project Teams
• 3 students per team
• Completely original serious game (except music)
– game design
• have some educational value
– game programming
– artwork
– sound effects
• Post your teams to Blackboard
– Teams should be posted by the end of this week
Group Project Schedule
• Benchmark 1 – Wednesday, 4/6
– game design document
– GUI
– team name, logo, & Web site
– game reviews
• Benchmark 2 – Friday, 4/15
– Render Threading
– World Rendering
• Benchmark 3 – Friday, 4/24
– Sound
– Music
– Sprites & AI
• Benchmark 4 – Tuesday 5/13
– Finishing touches
– Make it FUN!
– ½ hour presentations
Friday, May 14th
• Game Programming Competition
• Wang Center
What’s fun about this?
West of House
You are standing in an open field west of a
white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
>open mailbox
Opening the small mailbox reveals a leaflet.
>take leaflet
Taken.
>read leaflet
"WELCOME TO ZORK!"
Game Ideas
• Where do game ideas come from?
– human interactions
• simulations
• abstractions
– pure creativity & imagination
– other games (derivatives)
• variations of other games
• combinations of other games
– oh, and licensed properties
Game Design
• Until recently, few methodologies have existed
– some designers insist no methodologies should exist
• Involves stitching together a set of perspectives from:
–
–
–
–
sociology
anthropology
psychology
mathematics
• Game designer – conceives & designs rules & structures
that result in an experience for player
– designs gameplay
– goal: the creation of meaningful play
Meaningful Play
• Game experiences for players that have meaning
and are meaningful. Huh?
• Player actions generate system outcomes that are
interesting, and should be:
– discernable
• even for offscreen events
– integrated into the greater context of the game
• has immediate significance
AND
• affects later play experience
Both are
important
Example of meaningful action
• Game action:
– I attack a monster
• What might make it discernable?
– game tells me I scored a hit
• visual reaction
• sound effect
• visible statistics change
• What might make it integrated?
– I know that if I keep on hitting the monster, I will kill it
– I know that if I kill enough monsters, I’ll gain a level
• So?
– I want to gain a level because:
• I think then my nerdy friends will have more respect for me
• my nerdy self will have more respect for myself
Iterative Design
• A play-based design process
• Premise: Designers learn best through the process
of design
– by directly experiencing the things they make
• Emphasizes prototyping and playtesting
• Design decisions are made based on the
experience of playing a game while it is in
development
Iterative Methodology
1. Create game concept and rough design
2. Develop rapid prototype of game
–
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
•
as early in the design process as possible
Playtest game
Evaluate Design
Refine the design
Update prototype
Return to Playtest stage
This process continues until a game is released
Iterative Design Questions
• Do the players understand what they are supposed to be
doing?
• Are the players having fun?
• Do the game interactions interest/stimulate the player?
• Do the players want to play again?
• Necessary design skill:
– playing a game critically
• seeing where it excels and where it grinds to a halt
– being able to push a game towards more meaningful play
Game Prototype
• Running, interactive, incomplete game program
• Has none of the aesthetic trappings of the final game
• Begins to define the fundamental rules and core
mechanics
• Premise: it is not possible to fully anticipate PLAY fully
in advance
• Why?
– it isn’t possible to completely predict the experience of a game
• Zimmerman/Salen rule of thumb:
– a game prototype should be created and playtested, at the latest,
20 % of the way into a project schedule
• For a 15 month commercial project, this means 3 months in
• For a 7 week project, this would mean ~ 10 days
What would be in a game prototype?
• Rudimentary, incomplete game world & characters
• Game input for basic interactions
• Simple collision detection, AI, & physics as needed
• What will be added along the way?
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
rules & parameters that enrich the game
content (improved artwork)
richness to the environment
game options & interactions
more sophisticated AI & physics
sound effects
music
scripted sequences (minifilms), dialog, etc.
general game polish
levels, levels, levels
Common Commercial Design Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
Extensively design game
Extensively storyboard game
Create prototype
Throw out game design
•
•
I’m exaggerating in part
The point is the play of a game commonly
surprises a game’s designer
–
particularly if a game design is unusual or
experimental
What gives a game good gameplay?
• What makes Pong still fun to play (for a few
minutes anyway)?
–
–
–
–
–
–
it is simple to learn and play
every game is unique
it is an elegant representation
it is social
it is fun
it is cool
• This is a complex equation
• How about foosball?
– easy to play, difficult to master
Another way of thinking of games
• RULES
– essential logic & mathematical structures of a game
– How does the game proceed?
• PLAY
– the human experience of a particular game
– Interactivity with the game & others
• CULTURE
– the larger contexts within which games are played
– backstory
For any game to be fun, it must have
• Uncertainty
– on macro & micro level
– should have meaningful chance
• Conflict
– struggle == pleasure
• Balance
– only earned tipping points
• Competition and/or Cooperation
• Rules clarity
Rules Clarity
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rules limit player action
Rules are explicit and unambiguous
Rules are shared by all players
Rules are fixed
Rules are binding
Rules are repeatable
• Are these things all true?
The Slippery Slope
•
•
•
•
Should video games have blowouts?
Should there be mercy rules?
Games can have dynamic difficulty adjustment
Negative vs. Positive feedback
Game Style Particulars
• There are many game modes these days, each with
different game design emphases
– Online Gaming
• social interaction
– Casual Gaming
• 3 seconds rule
– Serious Gaming
• emphasis on reality to a point
– Mobile Gaming
• game accessibility, simplicity of interface
The Immersive World Culture
• MMOs are very different
• They may:
–
–
–
–
–
have economies
have their own cultures
allow players to create
allow players to progress
allow players to teach, steal, insult, inflict harm,
promote mayhem, have simulated sex, sell junk on
ebay, etc.
Levels
• Typically provide important narrative goals for
players
• Completing a level may mean:
– reaching an objective
– passing through one episode of a larger story
• Successive completed levels/goals creates
narrative coherence
• Good game levels typically have:
– new areas of the narrative world
– unique events, objects, & characters
– create a particular tone & texture
Level Designers as Architects
• How do you feel about Stony Brook architecture?
• Both design structures:
– both work with their own typologies
– have incentives to play it safe
• Beware: don’t design just for your peers
– Who are the players likely to be?
– don’t tell Frank Lloyd Wright
• A path is key to good level design
– How will a player move through a level?
– similar question for building designers
– Linear vs. alternatives
• Corridors vs. open spaces
• Stairs vs. Elevators
Good Visual Design Properties
• Balance
– promotes feeling of equilibrium
• Proper Scale for objects
• Proper Proportion objects
• Unity
– carries the theme of the room
• Additional game designer’s burden:
– emphasis – focal points of areas
– How do you encourage someone to want to explore
your level?
• attract their eye
Level Designer
• Part artist, part scientist
• Responsible for gameplay
• Requires artistic skills & technical knowledge
– many times use scripting languages
– more an more using point & click tools
• Game & Level designers of all sorts should have
many interests outside of gaming
Some keys
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Maintain the vision
A level will only be as good as you imagine it
Have fun with it
If there’s no difference, what’s the point?
Cater to different playing styles and capabilities
If the player didn’t see it, it didn’t happen
Progressively challenge the player
Play test
– find a sucker to play test your game over and over
again
MMO “Level” Design
•
•
•
•
Many MMOs don’t really have levels
Instead they have interconnected regions
Adds to game balancing complexity
What’s game balance?
– poor game balance forces players to use a single style
to compete
Example: Starcraft Level Design
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Campaign Editor lets you create your own game
Create a map
Add units
Add starting locations
Add game rules
People make maps that reflect their personality
Startcraft Level Design via the Mission Editor
References
• Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman
Published by MIT Press, 2003
ISBN 0-262-24045-9
• The Architecture of Level Design by Steven Chen
and Duncan Brown, Gamasutra
• GDC 2001 Interview: Paul Jaquays of id,
Gamasutra
• Beginning Level Design by Tim Ryan, Gamasutra